Exposure therapy for substance abusers with PTSD: translating research to practice.

Coffey et al. (2005) visited an inner-city clinic that treats people who use drugs and also have PTSD.

They wrote a how-to guide for adding exposure therapy for trauma inside the same program that already handles drug treatment.

The paper lists every tweak they made so the two treatments could run side-by-side.

The clinic could run the mixed program without blowing up its daily routine.

No patient numbers or success rates are given; the paper is a recipe, not a scoreboard.

Russell (1975) warned that short workshops can let staff walk out thinking they know enough; F et al. answer by showing you need written crisis plans and daily drug-use checks before you even start exposure.

Quigley-McBride et al. (2026) showed that single-blind tests hide real skill; the same idea applies here—without blind symptom checks and urine screens, staff may think the therapy is working when it is not.

Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) found that different rating tools give different answers; F et al. dodge that mess by skipping numbers altogether and simply describing what they changed step-by-step.

If you work in a community clinic, you can copy their checklist: set session times, prep a crisis plan, and track drug use every visit. You do not need a research grant—just tighter structure. Try it next intake.